Sonic Riders Showdown: Sonic Vs Jet
by Sky's Penname
Summary: The final race in the desert, Sonic against Jet.


Sky: Sonic and Jet don't belong to me. It's rushed. No critiques for this one. Thanks, hope you can enjoy.

**Sonic Riders Showdown: Sonic Vs. Jet **

Golden rays from the boiling sun above blasted down against the sandy desert. Sonic shielded his eyes and gazed up at the bright blue ocean above, not a single cloud present. Under one of his arms, he held onto his dark blue air board. His heart beat with excitement as cheers roared all around him, causing his ears to twitch with an impatient anxiousness.

It was an old, Roman-styled stadium with crumbling stone walls and an open roof above. At one of the oval entrances, a large colorful banner stood over it, with the words "START" in big bold letters painted on it.

"Who do you think they're all cheering for?" Sonic taunted, a cocky grin on his face as he walked through the sand towards his rival.

The dark green bird gritted his teeth and curled his hand into a fist. "They're all idiots. The only reason they cheer for you is because they know you. They don't know who really has the most skill in this sport."

Still smirking, Sonic placed his gloved hand on the bird's head and ruffled his feathers about. "No need to get so irritated! You're just mad that I'm so good at this, even when I've only had the board for a couple of days! You've had boards like these all your life, and I'm already better than you! It's not your fault, Jet."

The Babylon thief quickly slapped Sonic's hand, glaring at him with a fiery hatred. "You shut up, hedgehog!" he roared. "This is the final race, and I'll show you who's truly the best. You can't be good at everything!"

Grinning still, the blue hedgehog couldn't seem to get enough out of Jet. "I'm better than you at all things speed related. Who do you think you are, anyway? Challenging a legendary hero?" Sonic's smirk was beginning to falter, his own anger from the loss to Jet before becoming present.

"I'm a legendary thief, fool!" Jet cried back, his face coming dangerously close to Sonic's.

"Tails barely knew who you guys were, and Tails knows everything!" the blue hero retorted back, his free hand struggling to break free of control and slam into the annoying bird's beak.

"Calm down you two, calm down!" a voice echoed throughout the large stadium. Appearing down in front of the contestants, Dr. Robotnik floated down on a light-blue platform, a microphone in his hands. "It seems like the heat is already on between these racers! But, I'll have to ask you to save it for the race," the tall man said with a smile.

The two final contestants growled and looked away, each burning on the inside with hatred for one another. For Sonic, Jet was crowding in on his talent for speed. No one could be faster than Sonic, no one! For Jet, Sonic was crowding in on _his _talent for air boards. No one could be better with one of these boards than Jet, not even Sonic the Hedgehog!

"The Final Race is about to begin!" Robotnik shouted, throwing on of his hands up into the air as he did so. The crowd began to cry out madly at this action, each person at the edge of his or her seats. "Who will win? The determined rookie, Sonic the Hedgehog, or the experienced flyer, Jet the Hawk?" People all across the stadium screamed out again, in the palm of the great speaker's hand. Robotnik bent down to Sonic's height quickly. "Sonic, what do you have to say for your fans? You've only been using these boards for a few days and now you're going against the best in the world! Do you think you stand a chance?" Robotnik placed the microphone in front of Sonic's lips.

Sliding a hand through his quills coolly, Sonic replied, "This nobody doesn't stand a chance. I'm the master of speed, he can't hope to win."

Robotnik let the crowd roar with excitement before he made his way to Jet. After a few moments, he kneeled down to the bird as well. "Oh, Jet, that's a tough challenger right there! Think you can defeat my rival where I never could?" He leant the microphone to Jet now.

Unable to keep his cool like Sonic, Jet kept his fist curled angrily. "Sonic's a chump! He doesn't even know what he's doing! He doesn't know the first thing about these boards like the Babylon Rouges do!"

"I don't _need _to know anything about them to beat _you!_" Sonic taunted from afar, grinning yet again.

"You're asking for it, hedgehog!" Jet screamed, trying to charge at the blue hero, only to be stopped by one of Robotnik's long arms.

The crowd devoured the rivalry between the two, screaming and cheering louder than ever before. "That's enough! That's enough!" Robotnik cried, throwing Jet back down onto his feet. "It looks like we better get this race started or we won't have any contestants left!"

His floating-platform hovering up high into the sky, Robotnik held up one of his arms, ready to count down the seconds until the race began. "Are you two ready? One your marks... get set…"

Sonic's body tensed up, his very breath becoming lost for the split second before the race. He couldn't let Jet win, no matter what. This was his chance to prove that no one could push him around, that no one could beat him at speed! His pride was on the line now! If he lost this… no one would think of him the same way. He'd be nothing.

Jet clenched the board under his arm, slowly moving his goggles over his eyes as he prepared to race. His very being was at stake right now. Using this air board was his greatest skill! How could a bird lose to a hedgehog at flying? It's unthinkable! Sonic was just a rookie, if he lost to that hedgehog now, he would lose everything! His very life would be over. He would win, no matter the cost.

Robotnik threw his hand down, his voice trembling with anticipation as he roared at the top of his lungs, "**_Go go go!" _**

This was it!

Sonic and Jet lunged forward, their hearts beating rapidly. Quickly, they threw the boards out under them, and jumped on easily, pressing the ignition as hard as they could. "_This is my chance to show that I'm the best!_" Sonic and Jet cried in unison.

In a blur of gold, the two flew out of the stadium and out into the endless desert. Both looked to their sides, seeing that they were exactly at the same pace. "Just give up!" Sonic roared over the winds, his voice trembling in fear as he spoke. A stubborn frown was across his face.

The emerald bird was feeling the same fear as Sonic. "I won't lose to you!" he hissed, looking forward to see the first jump up ahead. "Let's just see how well you fly when you don't even have wings!"

The jump ahead was nothing but an ancient stone block, long buried in the sand for centuries upon centuries. Over the block was a dark pit, stretching out to seemingly infinite depths, devouring the very light that came near it. If Sonic couldn't jump this, it would be more than his pride that he lost.

With a quivering breath, the two readied their legs, coming up to the pit. Letting out an effort filled grunt, each jumped up into the bright blue sky, the sun reflecting off their fur and feathers like beautiful jewels.

The world spun around them in a mix of sapphire and gold as the two combined this dangerous jump with flips and spins, the wind rushing into their faces.

As gravity pulled them down, Sonic realized he had already made a fatal mistake. He had done one too many flips, and was surely going to crash into the sand below. With a gasp and some quick thinking, he planted his palms into the sand, and used it to push himself off the ground with another flip, letting him land safely and still keep most of his speed.

"Already having trouble, Sonic?" Jet cried out a few feet ahead, laughing mockingly. Up ahead, a large pit sat, another seemingly endless void as sand infinitely cascaded down into the blackness. Jet, becoming surer in his ability to win, easily went along the sides of the pit to avoid any danger.

Sonic, however, was able to spot a shortcut. Spreading across the dark void like a bride was a small pipe-like structure. The blue hedgehog knew how dangerous of an action this was, but, he would do anything it took to win. With a determined grunt, he leaped his board up from the sand and onto the steel pipe, grinning as fiery orange sparks appeared from the grind. Having been grinding for a long time, he found that balancing along the metal pipe was quite simple, only finding it difficult to stand to hear the loud screech made from his metal board against the pipes.

"What?" Jet cried out as he circled past the pit, seeing Sonic the Hedgehog land directly next to him. "You lucky…"

Winking to his rival and even motioning a mock salute to the bird, Sonic replied, "Don't think you'll be through with me that easily!"

Jet growled and looked up ahead, seeing the silhouette of a large building up ahead. A smirk spread across his face as he realized what it was. "Now is when you'll need real skill!" he cried, the ancient temple quickly becoming larger and larger in sight.

Sonic's quills rippled anxiously in the wind as the dilapidated temple stretched open before him. Almost without warning, the vital sun disappeared, only the glow of the air boards jumping off the moldy walls. The environment around quickly changed to cold and eerie, dark shadows snaking their ways across the cracks and crevices of the stone building.

"Getting scared?" Jet taunted, his body half-wrapped in the darkness that flooded this abandoned temple.

"You're the one who's trembling," Sonic retorted, his voice echoing against the endless stone walls of the temple. He wasn't actually sure if Jet was trembling or not, he just didn't want to sound afraid.

Suddenly, the temple split apart into two separate runways, much smaller and more cramped than originally before. Sonic and Jet both let out a gasp of surprise, fearing for the worst now as they sped through the darkness at the speed of a raging wind.

"Holy!" Sonic shouted, swerving the board quickly as he did so. From seemingly nowhere, a large rusty spike appeared out of the ground, nearly skewering the hedgehog right on the spot. Hearing a yelp from the other side of the wall, Sonic had guessed that Jet nearly was killed by a similar obstacle as well.

As the two went on, the stone walls slowly began to transform and become more rounded, as if turning into a small circular like tube. After a few minutes of riding through, the two racers could no longer tell if they were riding on the ceiling or on the ground, the stone walls having become completely rounded and similar. Like before, another rusty spiked shot up through one of the walls, causing each racer to narrowly swerve out of the way once again. This time, however, they came in a much more rapid number.

Gritting his teeth, Sonic zigzagged along the tube-like pathway, the large sharp blades appearing at his every turn. Jet was having it no easier, feeling the very air around his feathers be cut by the nearing spikes. One wrong movement of and the two would die a quick, dark, and lonely death. Sweat began to trickle down Jet's face, finding himself unable to even take in a breath of the oxygen anymore as he narrowly escaped the piercing traps around him. Sonic's feet were pressed against the board like two heavy boulders, using the slightest movement in his toes to turn the board just the exact way he needed as he shot through the circular tunnel.

Finally, the spikes ended, and once again, the pathway opened up into one large dark corridor, revealing the two exhausted rivals to each other. "Still hanging in there, huh?" Sonic growled, trying to hide his panting.

Even through his goggles, Jet planted a fiery glare back in the direction of the hedgehog. "It wasn't even difficult!" he bluffed.

Sonic was beginning to grow tired of this race, his pride still hanging on a delicate balance. He had to win this, he had to win this! "Maybe this will make things more difficult!" he hissed, swerving his board directly towards Jet now.

With a yelp, Jet slowed his air board down, barely dodging Sonic's ram. "I was just about to do the same to you!" the emerald bird cried, their voices still bouncing off the walls as they shouted. Speeding up, he became intent on ramming the hedgehog off of his board.

The race became much more aggressive at this point. Even though their lungs begged for more than the dusty oxygen in this dark temple, they still sped at each other, each crossing dangerously across one another. Their hearts aflame with rage, they continued to attack, determined to prove what they believed was right.

"Just who the hell do you think you are?" Sonic roared, shifting his feet as he swerved away from Jet. "Why are you trying so hard to humiliate me?" he cried, unable to hold his emotions back anymore.

Jet backed away, nearly getting slammed into the wall by his fierce attacker. "Look who's talking! All you do is mock me at every turn, hedgehog! I'm a Babylon Rouge, why would you try to take that away from me?"

Growing infuriated that neither was able to hit each other yet, Sonic and Jet screamed, "Idiot! Stay still!" in unison once again, their merged voices draining down into the dark depths of the temple.

Panting from the effort of each attack, Sonic and Jet once again found themselves side by side, still gaining no ground ahead of each other. Each one glared daggers at each other, screaming the same thoughts in their heads. _Die already! Die! _

A sparkle caught their eyes, and both instinctively turned their heads forward, seeing the long temple finally coming to an end. Golden rays streamed out, and both threw their hands up over their eyes to shade the burning light out. In a sudden flash of light, they were back outside in the desert, the hot air burning against them as they had already worked up quite a sweat.

It was the final stretch to the finish, and the stadium was just up ahead in the distance. Jet curled his hands into tight-balled fists, yearning to taste victory for his own. "You're not gonna win this!" he cried, moving closer to the hedgehog and throwing a punch in his direction.

Sonic's mouth opened with a mixture of surprise and exhilaration, tilting his neck just barely enough to dodge the punch. "Oh, you don't want to pick a fistfight with me," he chuckled, grinning.

Suddenly, the race became a battle for speed. Punches flew, and kicks were thrown, bruising both of the racers as they rushed across the sandy desert. Sonic's grin soon was crushed as he realized that Jet was a better fighter than he thought. Each threw their attacks at lightning speed, fear of losing energizing each of them even as they gasped for just a few breaths. The two fighters knew that one of them would eventually make a small fatal mistake, and someone was going to lose, and someone was going to win! It was just a matter of who would be the first to make a mistake…

Jet threw another fist forward at the bruised hedgehog, only seeing it dodged easily by ducking under. As Sonic did this, he brought his leg up and around to strike at the side of Jet's head, just narrowly missing his target by a fingernail. The emerald bird grinned at this, yelling, "Idiot! What are you aiming at?"

Unfortunately for him, Sonic wasn't through with his attack yet. "That was just a distraction so that I could do _this_!" he roared, shooting his elbow out at full speed into Jet's beak.

The emerald bird, his glory lost, seemed to fly back on his board, clutching his face desperately as he felt blood begin to trickle down. His goggles cracked and useless now, he lifted them up to see that Sonic was just a few feet ahead in the lead, the finish line only a few moments away.

Jet stomped his foot onto his board, knowing he couldn't possibly catch up in time now. "_No!" _he screamed, craning his neck back to face the heavens that have so damned him in his time of need. "_No! No! No!" _he continued to roar, his very voice cracking with despair.

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

Jet looked ahead of him now, hearing the large crowd cheering and cheering in the stadium as they neared it. The finish line was just seconds away, but he knew what to do! The blue hedgehog had his back turned…

Spreading out his wings like the bird he was, he leaped forward off of his own air board, flying forward towards Sonic. The blue hedgehog only had time to look over his shoulder before he was tackled by Jet, their bodies crashing into the sandy ground beneath. Jet, however, was expecting this. Using Sonic's body underneath him like a diving board, he swiftly jumped back up into the air, landing on his own air board in one graceful movement.

Jet crossed the finish line in an emerald blur.

"And Jet is the winner!" Dr. Robotnik cried, the audience in an uproar as everyone stood up in their seats. "What an awesome race!"

Sonic's heart broke in two; his body sprawled against the dirt, his air board crashed into the stone wall near him. Tears nearly formed in his eyes as he pounded the sand with his fists, cursing Jet and cursing his loss.

"How's the dirt taste?" Jet taunted, standing over the pitiful defeated hedgehog before him. "You're just a rookie, you couldn't hope to have beaten me today…"

Sonic kept his eyes shut tight, looking down at the ground, unable to face the hawk. All he could hear inside of his mind… _I lost… I lost… I lost…_

Jet the Hawk laughed to himself, his board in his hand. "Maybe next time you can take a shot at me! I'll be waiting, Sonic the Hedgehog!" he cried out, jumping on his air board and zooming off into the desert horizon.

Sonic watched almost dreamily as the Hawk flew off, only able to think of how he would someday beat him. Curling his hand into a determined fist he whispered, "I won't lose… next time…"


End file.
